A week after Election Day, Maryland voters weigh in on the process, outcome
Term limits take choice away from we, the people
As a Marylander, I am very pleased by the historic firsts for our newly elected governor, lieutenant governor, comptroller, and attorney general (“Maryland elects a slate of historic, diverse ‘firsts’ across statewide offices, led by Wes Moore,” Nov. 10). As a Baltimorean, however, I am disappointed by the success, by a wide margin, of the term limit question underwritten by the Sinclair Broadcast Group.
I get the popular sentiment of “throw the bums out.” Yet, we have always had that power via the ballot box. Imposing term limits also throws out the good, responsive, effective officials and turns our city’s elected positions into nothing more than part-time employment. It is sad that this power has been taken away from we, the people, and placed into an artificial mechanism.
Scenes from the election judge seat
Midterm elections are finally over.
The dust is quietly settling. Along with that, new faces are making rounds in state houses and network stations. In another two years we will be back with the time honored exercise of presidential elections, the talk of which has already begun.
But how fairly were midterm elections conducted in our neck of the woods? Clearly in the case of Maryland, we haven’t heard major irregularities; and no surprises, either, in the outcome. Most candidate wins appear to be predictable.
The controversy surrounding the 2020 presidential elections, with some sections of society labeling it “stolen,” is still casting shadow. And leading up to the midterm elections, there were candidates who were not sure of accepting the outcomes if it was not going their way. But can we entirely dismiss the detractors’ claim as unfounded and baseless?
Well, serving as election judge in Baltimore County for a couple of elections, I can say there’s still room for improvement.
While there’s talk of electronically manipulating the scanners, it would be difficult to alter them, as they are standalone machines. However it may be possible to tamper with them without enough oversight. There was an acute shortage of election judges this election season. In my precinct, we were short of five, the chief judge wisely revealed to us when we were closing.
But the major area of concern is the poll book. While I cannot speak for other jurisdictions, in Baltimore County voters are not required to show any kind of identification, save for a few instances. All they have to say is a last name (to be specific, first four letters of last name), first name, month and date of birth, and address. That creates an opportunity for people to vote for others in their household they know wouldn’t come or for deceased individuals. While it may encourage voter participation, the concern cannot be entirely dismissed. However, those irregularities will not significantly change the outcomes.
On the bright side, more people are becoming comfortable with the electronic ballot marking device. They are fitted with headsets and keypads which can be handy for the disabled. While the machines are cumbersome in appearance and limited in numbers, they are the most reliable ways of marking ballots; and of course we save trees. In the previous elections the challenge was to get enough people to use it. This time, we couldn’t keep up with the demand. In instances, we had to advise voters to use paper ballots to avoid long waits.
Administering elections like anything in democracy is a work in progress. The hope is to realize that we can always do better.
— Aberra Sahlie, Catonsville